GGRAsia – Okada Manila op eyes Philippines listing in 2025: report

Okada Manila op eyes Philippines listing in 2025: report

May 29, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

The promoter of the Philippine casino resort Okada Manila is said to be planning an initial public offering (IPO) in the Philippines, worth between US$500 million and US$750 million, according to a report by media outlet InsiderPH.

It cited two unnamed sources respectively saying Okada Manila plans an IPO on the Philippine Stock Exchange by 2025. BDO Capital & Investment Corp and CLSA were reportedly hired to arrange the deal.

GGRAsia approached the operator of Okada Manila for comment, but had not received a reply by the time this story went online.

Philippines-based Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc is responsible for the operations of Okada Manila. The company is a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Universal Entertainment Corp.

Earlier this month, Fitch Ratings Inc placed Universal Entertainment on its ‘rating watch negative’ because of the company’s US$760-million notes due in December 2024.

“While the company [Universal Entertainment] is in advanced stages of executing a refinancing plan, legally-binding commitments to refinance are not in place,” stated Fitch.

Reports that Okada Manila is reviving its ambitions for a listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange come after earlier plans for a listing on the Nasdaq stock market in the United States – via a merger with 26 Capital Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company – fell through.

In early 2019, a unit of Universal Entertainment completed a tender offer for Philippines-listed shell company Asiabest Group International Inc, for what at the time was touted as a backdoor Philippines listing for Okada Manila.

Asiabest is chaired by Hajime Tokuda, currently the group president of Universal Entertainment. Byron Yip, Okada Manila’s president and chief operating officer, is also listed as one of the directors of Asiabest, showed corporate data.

But the sources quoted by the InsiderPH outlet, said an IPO was now the “preferred route” for listing in the Philippines, since Okada Manila had established a profitable operating track record.

Okada Manila reported adjusted segmental earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of PHP12.22 billion for full-year 2023 (US$210.6 million), up 42.1 percent from 2022.

The operator of Okada Manila has announced plans to invest in the stalled Emerald Bay casino resort project at Mactan in Cebu in the Philippines.

The group has made a “non-refundable” payment of PHP300.1-million towards the cost of a stock subscription that would see majority ownership in the operating interest for Emerald pass to Tiger Resort.